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20091002

Hennops River smallholders get security warning

ERASMIA, PRETORIA -- At a recent community policing forum (CPF) meeting of the smallholders at the Gerhardsville/Hennopsriver/Rhenosterspruit Nature Conservancy, (pop. 5,000) it was revealed that residents were not reporting what they saw as ‘minor’ crimes to the local police station, but that there was a sudden surge of petty crimes in the area.Map of Erasmia

Crime-fighters and the Erasmia police in this area -- which borders the Cradle of Humankind -- all warn that ‘residents often neglect to report minor incidents because ‘it is so time-consuming to drive the distance to the police station and wait for the statement to be written up.”

However, crime-experts warn that a sudden surge in petty crimes could be ‘gangs testing the security systems: ’ Police experts always warn that a sudden increase in ‘petty crimes’ such as minor thefts from properties, suddenly broken fences, strange bits of rubbish in various colours left lying around to ‘mark’ people’s properties, dogs being poisoned -- all indicate that gangs are carrying out surveillances of the area and testing residents’ security measures with petty crimes such as stealing small items from people’s properties, vehicles, or poisoning pets and wildlife.

The area is very popular with mountain-bikers and has long, winding nature-trails where Pretoria families often go to educate their children about the teeming wildlife in this “grassy veldt” area. It was here where the owner of a luxury Hennops River lodge (picture) popular as a wedding venue, Riaan Malenze, 35 and their security guard Joseph Antionio, were critically injured after a large gang of armed attackers dug a tunnel beneath their electrified fence, invaded the lodge and tied up the owner, the guard and the owner's wife. Police said afterwards that these feral gangsters had apparently shot the two men ‘just for the fun of it’. (I could find no online reports indicating that this vicious black male gang was ever arrested- please let me know if anyone knows more details: a.j.stuijt@knid.nl)

There also were the April 2008 attacks targetting the Hennops River homestead of Chris and Rachelle Lubbe. They were attacked by an equally ferocious, large gang: Rachelle Lubbe was tortured with a hot iron after being tied up and assaulted in April 2008 while Chris (picture far right) was burnt repeatedly on his back. Only two weeks later, the couple and their family, including their 5-year-old daughter Savannah, left for Australia. Resident Sharon Bernhardt, herself a victim of three robberies, said after the 2008 attack that ‘crime was happening more often: the attacks happen on such a regular basis that residents are becoming used to them. We have a lot of robberies, especially violent ones,’ she told the news media at the time. Erasmia police station commissioner Superintendent Faan Steynberg said at the time that these farm attackers were clearly very familiar with the layout of the place: ‘They knew exactly what they were doing. Some went straight to the owner while the others overpowered the guard. This is a particularly nasty crime. It appears as though the owner and the guard were deliberately shot. It looks as though they shot them for the fun of it," said Steynberg at the time: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20081020054740340C310376

And the entire Erasmia area also is not exactly a ‘safe’ area to ignore any crime in: with 148 murders+homicides* ; 110 attempted murders; 4 kidnappings; 697 armed+common robberies; 432 family homes burgled; 47 carjackings; 117 armed robberies of businesses/families; and hundreds of various categories of thefts.

(NOTE: I combine the ‘murder’ and ‘homicide’ statistics, kept under seperate categories by the SAPS; in the case of tiny Erasmia, population 5,000, there were 106 murders+ 42 culpible homicides = 148 violent-crime-related deathsduring the March 2008 to March 2009 reporting period. The ‘culpible homicides’ stats can be found under the ‘other crime categories’ heading and are located on the fourth line from the very bottom of the list…) http://www.saps.gov.za/statistics/reports/crimestats/2009/provinces/gauteng/pdf/erasmia.pdf

Creates false impression that there is no crime… “However,” warns Francis Gomes, CPF area chair, ‘this (failure to report minor crimes) creates a very false impression that there is no crime. This means no or few resources are allocated to the area.

Get a case number, take photos of crime scene:

“Minor incidents can be reported via email to Inspector Bea Kuhn: bea@tiscali.co.za or Inspector Nico Venter, who also gives the following valuable advice: “when you report an incident insist on a case number. This makes the case much stronger and is recorded in the crime stats.”

Inspector Venter also advises residents that ‘to save time residents can also write up their own statements and take it to the police. Another option is to fax through a statement to (012) 370-4128. “ However – he also warns:

“Serious incidents MUST be lodged at the Erasmia Police Station in order to get a case number for your reference and for insurance claims. Photos of the crime scene are also very valuable.” Contact Francis on tgomes@tiscali.co.za

October 7 2009 -- security meeting at Doornrandjie 79, 6pm:

Tom Klaasen and Nick Foster of the Gerhardsville/Hennopsriver/Rhenosterspruit Nature Conservancy also warned that there are nightly burglaries there now, and that it has become very apparent of late that “we have all let our Plot Watch duties slip and our communications exchange has also fallen down badly.”

“I do not believe that it is entirely unrelated that we now seem to be experiencing at least one incident of theft from property every other night across the local area! To help re-invigorate our efforts to, as a minimum, be seen as a community that is prepared to get out there and be visibly active in our own defence against this onslaught, we will be having a meeting next week:

Wednesday October 7 2009, Portion 79, Doornrandjie. RSVP: Please make the effort to attend, or let me know of your 'comitment to the cause' if you really can't get there at that time. Apathy will cost YOU dearly, sooner or later.”

Do not hide crime:

Francis Gomes (of Doornrandje) of the local Community Policing Forum also warned in their newsletter to ‘not hide crime..’

“We would appreciate it if all incidents in Ward 5 (Hennopsriver, Gerhardtsville, Laezonia, Doornrandjes, Hills and Dales, Roodekrans, Knoppieslaagte, etc), are reported, however minor. This will assist us in our crime prevention initiatives. Also please encourage all your neighbours and other members of our community to participate on the Facebook Group "Gerhardsville/Hennopsriver" or "Rhenosterspruit Nature Conservancy"

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '